


Nice

by mebfeath



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s02e21 1969, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-24 12:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1606043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mebfeath/pseuds/mebfeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world seemed different from around a campfire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nice

The log on the fire protested as he poked it closer to the centre with the long stick he’d found earlier in the evening. It eventually succumbed to his poking and prodding, and he sat back on the large fallen tree someone had arranged around the campfire space. Jack had always loved camping; not so much the sleeping outside in the cold part, but the campfire. The way it gathered people together, the way the light danced in strange patterns off the trees and faces around it. The world seemed different from around a campfire. More alive, somehow.

If he looked long enough at this one, he could forget for a moment that he was a long way from home – and, this time, it wasn’t one easy trip through the Stargate to get back. 

His thoughts naturally drifted to his team, and far too quickly to the woman sitting next to him, her hands clutching tightly to the warm tin coffee cup. He looked sideways at her; she was staring just as intently into the fire as he had been moments ago, lost in thought.

Probably solving world hunger, he thought, mentally rolling his eyes. Nope, she’d be thinking about something he wouldn’t even understand.

He glanced at her again. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this. Like…well, like a…woman. It had taken some getting used to, this idea of Carter as a hippie, complete with long skirt and necklaces. He’d had to work hard not to stare for the first day or two until his brain had eventually gotten used to his second-in-command – Major Samantha Carter USAF – Carter – in a long skirt.

She looked…well, he wasn’t going to go there. He was still deluding himself that he was fighting it; that there was nothing really to fight. It was just a crush, for lack of a better word. She was beautiful, young, smart, in close proximity for a lot of his day, laughed at his jokes…

Yup, he’d get over it soon enough.

Her movement caught his attention, and glanced at her. She didn’t seem to notice at first, still staring intently into the fire before glancing down at her cup. She quickly realised she was being watched and turned instinctively towards him. He pulled his eyes away quickly, and focused back on the fire.

‘Everything ok, Carter? You were…thinking,’ he said slowly, emphasising the final word. She let out a quick breath of amusement.

‘Sorry, sir. I was just lost in thought,’ she muttered. ‘It’s just…’ she started again after a few moments, ‘it’s crazy to think we’re just trekking across the US in 1969…’ She stopped, waving a hand in the air in front of her. ‘I just can’t stop thinking that we’re going to step on a butterfly and change the future.’ 

Jack pursed his lips. ‘Is there anything we can do about that, Major?’

He heard her let out a sigh. ‘Not really, sir.’

‘Then why are you worrying?’

‘I…I guess I’m just a little nervous about getting home – if we get home – and what we’ll find when we get there.’ She sighed again. ‘I know it’s pointless to worry…’

‘Firstly, we will get home. Secondly, yes, it is pointless to worry if there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve had this conversation already.’

‘Yes, sir. I know. I just…’ She stopped, her shoulders dropping. She grabbed her coffee cup in both hands, bringing it to her mouth. ‘Sorry. I’ll stop worrying.’

Jack snorted. ‘Sure you will.’ They sat in silence for a while before an idea hit him. ‘You have to look at the positives, Carter. There are some distinct positives to this situation.’

Her eyes narrowed slightly. ‘Like what, sir?’

He paused. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead. ‘Well…the leather jackets. Leather jackets are cool.’

He saw her small grin out of the corner of his eye. Success.

‘And Teal’c. We absolutely have to get a photo to take back with us. No one’s going to believe that headscarf, or those flares,’ he added, unable to hide his grin at her laughter. 

‘Yes, sir,’ she said, the laughter still clear in her voice. His smile slowly faded as his mind hit the next logical stop along this journey. 

‘You know,’ he started, looking determinedly down at where he was drawing in the dirt with the stick. ‘The whole skirt thing? It’s…nice,’ he muttered. ‘You look…nice,’ he added lamely, grimacing at his own incapability to form a sentence that resembled the linguistic skill akin to his forty-something years.

She was silent beside him, and before he could stop himself he was looking at her again. She was looking at the fire and smiling shyly, biting her lip. The blush in her cheeks was obvious despite the low light the campfire afforded them.

He turned back to the fire, took a deep breath and ploughed on. ‘You should do it more often. You know,’ he added, waving his hand in the air, ‘the whole…skirt…girl…thing.’ He stopped. ‘Not that you’re not a girl, and you definitely look like a girl…ahh…’ He gave up, tossing the stick into the fire in resignation. 

Smooth, O’Neill. Real smooth.

‘Thank you,’ he heard her say quietly. ‘It’s…sometimes it’s…hard…’ She stopped, smoothing down the front of her skirt. ‘Thank you, sir,’ she said finally, giving his shoulder the tiniest of nudges before letting her hands come to rest in her lap. He made a face before chancing a look back at her. She turned to look at him at the same moment, giving him a small but brilliant smile – the kind of smile that made his heart stop and time stand still. He dragged his eyes from hers after what felt like an eternity in a second, turning his attention back to the fire and safety and away from what would surely end up in charges and court-martial if he wasn’t so very, very careful.

He was being a good CO, he told himself sternly. Encouraging a member of his team. This whole…thing…was nothing. 

Yep, that was it.


End file.
